Terriers overcome UNH with late offensive explosion

Freshman forward Jack DeBoer celebrates his first collegiate goal in the first period against UNH. PHOTO BY MADDIE MALHTORA

In their first game at Agganis Arena in 2019, the Terriers produced a 5-2 victory over the University of New Hampshire in Hockey East play.

BU (7-8-3, 6-5-2 Hockey East) dominated the Wildcats (6-8-6, 2-5-3 Hockey East) from the first puck drop, and scored the opener after two minutes and 17 seconds of play.

It was freshman forward Jack DeBoer who got the Terriers on the board, knocking in his first collegiate goal after receiving the centering pass from senior linemate Ryan Cloonan.

BU’s hot start in the opening frame was reminiscent of their early effort against Harvard on Tuesday. In that contest, it was freshman forward Matthew Quercia who tallied his first collegiate goal, lighting the lamp at 2:05 into the game. Cloonan was the provider for that goal as well.

“It’s nice to see a senior leading,” BU head coach Albie O’Connell said. “It’s also nice to get a guy on the board from a confidence standpoint.”

After the UNH defense temporarily quieted the Terrier attack, BU got back into an offensive rhythm on a power play with five minutes to go in the stanza.

During the man advantage, junior defenseman Dante Fabbro took in a pass from sophomore forward Shane Bowers and launched a seeing-eye wrist shot through a sea of bodies to double BU’s lead. It was the captain’s fourth goal of the season, and his team-leading sixteenth point.

The Terriers would hold a 2-0 lead and a 12-5 advantage in shots at the end of the first, but it was UNH who took hold of the middle frame.

On a power play of their own halfway through the period, the Wildcats managed flurry of opportunities before forward Liam Blackburn poked the puck behind BU goaltender Jake Oettinger to put his team on the board.

By the end of the second, BU still led 2-1, but the teams were level on shots with 16 apiece.

“We weren’t really clean through that second period on the breakouts”, O’Connell said.

At 2:24 into the third, Blackburn brought UNH level with his second short-range goal of the match.

BU responded quickly, with forward Joel Farabee sending a laser into the top right corner to restore the Terriers’ lead. It was the second goal in as many games for the freshman, who has become the team’s second-leading scorer with 6 goals in his first season.